The launch of the network came alongside a licensing deal reached between Disney and Corus, in which it acquired Canadian rights to Disney Channel's programming library, and the announcement of a Canadian version of Disney Channel broadcasting in English that launched concurrently. Previous rightsholder DHX Media did not operate any Disney Channel-branded services in English or French, and their only French-language Disney property was a French-Canadian version of children brand Disney Junior.

By virtue of its previous co-ownership with Family Channel, French-language dubs of Disney Channel programs were historically aired by Vrak.TV. Vrak.TV was separated from Family with the acquisition of Astral Media by Bell Media; in an attempt to relieve concerns surrounding Bell's total market share in English-language television following the merger, Bell elected to divest Family Channel and its sister networks to DHX Media, which included Astral's French-language version of Disney Junior.[1]

On April 16, 2015, Corus Entertainment announced that it had acquired long-term, Canadian multi-platform rights to Disney Channel's programming library; the cost and duration of the licensing deal were not disclosed. Alongside the licensing deal, Corus announced that it would officially launch a Canadian version of Disney Channel; the service will consist of linear television channels in English and French, along with TV Everywhere and video-on-demand services for digital platforms.[2][1]

The French-language service, La chaîne Disney, launched concurrently with its English-language counterpart on September 1, 2015. It replaced Télétoon Rétro in its previous channel allotments, and operates under the same CRTC license.[3][4]